HD voice has now been launched by 100 operators in 71 countries, up 31 percent on the same time last year.
The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) said eight operators have launched the service so far this year, with Moroccan, Omani and Swedish operators launching the service for the first time.
The industry body said 22 countries have more than one operator offering HD voice, with interconnection between callers on competing networks and sorting international roaming for HD calls seen as priorities for the next 12 months.
There are now 329 HD voice phones, more than double that a year ago. In total, 19 manufacturers have built HD voice ready handsets. High-definition calling uses Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband technology.
Alan Hadden, President of GSA, commented: “Approaching 1 in 5 HSPA operators now offer HD voice service. The choice of HD phones more than doubled over the past 12 months. Market momentum is positive for mobile HD voice, and growing.”
The amount of HD voice ready phones far outstrip those that can offer VoLTE. According to separate figures from GSA, there are 57 phones that support VoLTE, out of a total of 1,563 handsets that can operate on LTE networks. More companies are building LTE enabled smartphones, with the amount building these devices up 58 percent compared to 12 months ago.